After many hours of pondering how to begin this letter, I can only sum it up with one word: appalling! I have watched school board meetings, far too many, and continue to walk away from them shaking my head in disbelief at the preplanned, game-playing and self-aggrandizing actions that are played out to the audience and public viewers.
Thursday night my jaw dropped to the floor as I watched the unprofessional group of people that we call our school board hold an outright public flailing of a fellow board member, Alison Bartlett. If this kind of behavior occurred at one of our schools by a bunch of students, these students would have been hauled into the principal's office and suspended for bullying.
Furthermore, this school board has yet again violated the policies. Under Board Conduct, any issue that one has with a fellow board member will be addressed in private. For Chairman Dr. John Abraham to have allowed each of the board members to make a statement and then for each of those members to have the audacity to attack Ms. Bartlett was a gross negligence on his part in handling this board and following policy. As chairman, one of his responsibilities (please read the job responsibilities) is to ensure that deliberations will be fair, open and thorough. I feel that this was far from fair. It was unnecessary and destructive to all involved.
What right does any of the board have in casting the first stone? Dr. Crooks cast the first stone with his sermon on morality. Let's see, he is currently being recalled for his lack of integrity, lying and deception. Board members Lynnda Crowder-Eagle and Holli Cash claimed they had received hundreds of e-mails favoring the Standards Based Report Cards, but they were unable to provide them after an Open Records request.
I call this deception and lying. David Banks and Abraham both ran on tickets claiming to support a later school start date. But is that what they voted for? No! I would call that deceiving voters and lying. As the saying goes, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. I urge Chairman Abraham to review board conduct before he yet again violates the policies. When he hands down his reprimand, I believe that does not need to be rehearsed and aired in public, it needs to be addressed in private!
Ms. Bartlett, thank you for taking a stand with this board and for asking the tough questions before rubber stamping everything on which you are required to vote. I believe that she stands for integrity and I believe that she is making changes. Continue to do the job that your constituents elected you to do.
I also believe that the issue that she brought to the last meeting could have been handled more professionally by the board and Mr. Sanderson, and not turned into a witch hunt that affected administrators across the entire school district. Ms. Bartlett held those teachers' comments in confidence, protecting their privacy and potentially their jobs, and for that she should have been commended.
We expect that those who hold public office to exhibit the highest standards and ethical conduct. I hope that the next time we vote we take this into consideration.
Kim Swanson
East Cobb
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With so many people pushing pet projects (or objecting to the same), there is almost no chance that reason could prevail if, indeed, reason was finally offered. But, my primary objective in writing is to add some thoughts on future school board elections: Most of the school board members are relatively new and were largely elected to replace some (but not all)previous members who were generally considered to be incompetent. Now this group is under similar assault. Who will be willing to seek election to a board that is constantly under attack? Most normal people will want no part of group that has little chance of accomplishing anything worthwhile. Type "A" personalities might like the challenge, but it appears to me that this may be the problem presently: too many prima donnas. Probably, many willing to run for the board either have their own agendas, or are trying to use it as a stepping-stone to greater glory.
My main point is that if we keep vilifying the board and its members, we are likely to end up with more of the same next time around.
I'm just astonished at the audacity of this board.